Carolyn Gillespie

Sort Order HTML <h2><strong>CAROLYN GILLESPIE (TSAKALOS)</strong></h2>

Sort Order HTML <h2><strong>Sydney 2000 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn Bashford (Gillespie/Tsakalos) was born on the 15th of August, 1968 in Adelaide, South Australia.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn started her basketball refereeing as a 14 year old at the Bowdon Stadium in Adelaide. “Being late can sometimes pay off,” says Carolyn. “I was late for training and as the team was required to send two players to a referee training camp, I was a ‘lucky’ one chosen, but I was not happyabout it. However, my father had always said if you have to do something, you might as well do it as best you can”.Like most future basketball referees she was “roped into” refereeing by being given a whistle and directed or asked to referee a match or training scrimmages. “I soon became hooked on refereeing, and the pocket money was handy,” she recalls. </p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn then spent many years refereeing junior basketball in Adelaide and being a referee co-ordinatorfor Junior basketball.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>She quickly moved as a referee through the junior competitions while she played at the same time. In 1984 she refereed her first senior men’s game at the age of sixteen and refereed at the Australian Under 14 Championships.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>When she was 17 years of age she was invited to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra as part of a Talent Identification Group. She was the only girl in the group. She admits that her ambitions compared to the boys was not as high, particularly as she thought that as a girl he chances of refereeing at the international level did not seem too realistic or even possible. That same year she officiated at her second Australian Under 14 Championships.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>While she was committed to refereeing at this stage Carolyn was still playing basketball. She injured her knee quite badly in 1987 and was unable to play basketball for nearly nine months. She refereed at the Australian Under 16 Championships that year. She says, “I was able to do more refereeing while I waited to go back and play....and refereeing just took over.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>In 1989 Carolyn refereed at the Australian Under 16 Men’s Championships and in 1990 at the Australian Under 18 Men’s Championships.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>In 1991 Carolyn gained her Australian Refereeing Badge. She refereed a semi-final of the WNBL in 1992.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>In 1993 she became, with Sharon Arnold, the first women to referee in the National Basketball league (NBL). That same year Carolyn gained her International Basketball FIBA Badge and refereed the Grand Finals of the CBA Women’s Conference and WNBL. </p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn refereed the WNBL Grand Final in 1994 and was named Women’s Referee of the Year in South Australia. Her international career also began that year when she was selected to tour to China with the Australian Women’s Team (Opals).</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>“My first international tour was and eye opener. In my first game in China I was the only female (with six men) in the referee’s room and none of them spoke English,” she recalls. “When my referee partner and I entered the court we were guarded by soldiers with machine guns. I remember everyone smoked and at half-time I couldn’t see the scoreboard for smoke.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn refereed the WNBL Grand Final in 1995 and was named Women’s Referee of the Year in South Australia. She then refereed the 1996 WNBL Grand Final.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Her international career continued in 1996 when she toured to Europe with the Opals.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn’s first major international tournament came in 1997 when she officiated at the Junior Women’s World Championships in Brazil. “It was here that I first truly understood what international basketball was all about, as I watched the Australian Junior Women’s Team play double overtime in the final in front of a very noisy Brazilian crowd with their loud drums and trumpets,” says Carolyn. That same year Carolyn attended an NBA referee training camp in the USA. “I received a call from the NBA referee boss Mr Darrell Garretson. He explained that he was planning to introduce women referees into the NBA and he wanted to watch me as I was the only women refereeing at the top level of men’s basketball in Australia. Mr Garretson showed me kindness and opened a whole new world of basketball to me. He showed me the level of toughness and the push for perfection you need to survive out on the floor as a referee in the professional basketball leagues.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Such was Carolyn’s talent and skills she was selected to referee at the 1998 Women’s World Basketball Championships, where she refereed the Gold Medal Game. Refereeing the Gold Medal Game at her first World Championships was certainly a “feather in her cap” and an honour for her and Australian basketball. That same year Carolyn refereed in the world’s premier women’s Club competition, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the USA.“Refereeing in the WNBA was an amazing experience. It was the first time I was truly able to treat what I loved doing...as a job or career. The expectations were high and there was little room for error.” However Carolyn missed Australia, her family and friends and returned to Australia. “I made a lifestyle decision and I returned to Australia. I am now the mother of three beautiful daughters and wouldn’t change that decision at all.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn was named 1998 Official of the Year by Basketball Australia. She refereed the 1999 WNBL Grand Final and the Gold Medal Game at the South East Asian Games in Japan.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn was selected to referee in the Women’s Basketball Competition at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. This was something she thought was not possible for herself or a female all those years ago. Carolyn impressed everyone with her performance in Sydney and won the respect of the players, coaches and the public. She refereed the Bronze Medal Game.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>An incident prior to the Sydney Games thrust Carolyn into the public spotlight. The Australian Men’s Basketball Team (Boomers) was playing the USA Men’s Team (Dream Team) in Melbourne in the days before the Games Opening Ceremony and one of the officials Bill Mildenhall dislocated his elbow when he collided with an American player. Carolyn was plucked from the spectators to replace Mildenhall. “I remember there had been fights on the court already and the idea of going on court in front of 15,000 people terrified me,” she recalls. “Ray Hunt pulled me aside and got me to focus on just what had to be done out there.” She did an excellent job. However next day there was a photograph of the diminutive Carolyn eye-balling with the US giant Alonzo Mourning over a disputed call. Carolyn recalls the photograph on the front page of the newspaper, “I gave a foul to Alonzo Mourning...I didn’t even know who he was.....he started yelling at me.....to me he was just another player who disagreed with me. The crowd then started booing him. I suppose the photograph sold papers.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>“The Sydney 2000 Games were fantastic,” she recalls. “All those years before, a women refereeing basketball at the Olympic Games was something I, and many others, never thought would be possible. Being part of the Olympic Games, I believe, is achieving the ultimate in our sport. I could never describe with clarity the feelings you experience. The referees all became a family in those special weeks.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>After Sydney 2000 Carolyn refereed the 2001 WNBL Grand Final, and at the 2001 South East Asia Games (Gold Medal Game). In 2003 her first daughter Erasmia was born. </p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn was selected to referee at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games but withdrew to the birth of her second daughter, Jacinda. She did however referee at the 2004 Women’s World Club Championships which were held in Russia.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>She was finding it difficult to continue to referee at the international level due to family commitments and the demands of refereeing at the top level. She refereed the 2005 WNBL Grand Final and the World Championship Qualification Tournament for Women held in New Zealand in 2005.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>In 2006 Carolyn refereed the WNBL Grand Final, at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and in the 2006 Women’s World Club Championships in China (Gold Medal Game).</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>In 2007 her third daughter, Amalia, was born.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>In 2009, while en-route to attend a FIBA re-licensing clinic, Carolyn decided to retire from refereeing. “I stopped that day. Cold Turkey! The decision to leave what I love was hard, but it was time.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn does not dwell on her groundbreaking career in refereeing in a male dominated field.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>She says, “I don’t take abuse on the court by the fans as being about me, or because I am female, I take it as being about the call. I don’t see myself as being that much different out on the basketball court.” She adds,“The matches you learn from are sometimes the one’s you don’t want to remember necessarily. I like doing the best job I can and that it is a good game for the players. In fact the best games you referee are the ones where you walk off and the players can’t really remember much about who refereed or what calls were made.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>1988 Olympic Games referee, and long-time Australian WNBL and NBL referee Geoff Weeks, says, “Carolyn always seemed to have bravado. She could deal with the male coaches and not blink an eyelid. A lot of that is putdown to her personality. I’ve alwayssaid that if I had to employ anyperson in a crisis management role,she’s that person.’</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn counts herself fortunate, “I had a strong network around me. My parents who were there from the beginning looking after me, my husband Lukas who has always been encouraging and supportive, and my mentors Geoff Weeks and Michael Butler to name a few. I can never thank them all enough for what they have done for me.”</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>In 2011 Carolyn continued as a mentor as part of the National Officiating Programme. </p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Carolyn Gillespie (Tsakalos) has been a trailblazer for women refereeing in Australian basketball. Not only has she achieved highly in refereeing women’s basketball games, but she has reached great heights in refereeing men’s basketball. She has refereed all over the world, in the WNBA, the NBL, the WNBL at World Championships and Olympic Games. The great respect she has gained for her refereeing expertise, skill, demeanour, communication skills, professionalism and ability has been world-wide. She will be remembered as one of the best referees in her era in Australian basketball.</p>